Powers/Abilities: Bushmaster
has
prosthetic arms, with a single retractable claw located in the back of
each hand. Though some of the Roxxon-created serpents have gills,
Bushmaster does not, and requires a breathing apparatus to operate
underwater. He has a small transceiver implanted in his skull which
allowed Sidewinder
to track him; it is unclear if he or any other Society members are
aware of this.

History:

(Captain America Annul#10/2 (fb))
- Quincy grew up on
a Caribbean island. At the age of 12 he was caught shoplifting beside
his older brother John, who escaped. John believed that Quincy had
ratted on him to the shopkeeper while caught, and beat first Quincy
then the shopkeeper, killing the latter. Years later, John got Quincy a
job unloading cocaine for Herve Argosy, a gun-runner. Several nights
later the police busted the smuggling ring, and Quincy dove into the
water to escape, more afraid of his brother's reaction to his arrest
than actually being arrested. He was run over by a police boat, and
woke in the hospital, having lost all four limbs to the boat's
propellers. His brother John visited him in the hospital just once,
telling Quincy that he was going to Europe for Mr. Argosy, and that he
was changing his name to John Bushmaster; that was the last time Quincy
ever saw him. A month or so later, Roxxon Oil executive Seth Voelker
visited Quincy in the hospital, and told him that Roxxon wanted him for
an experiment in prosthetics. Roxxon made the charges against Quincy
vanish, and he was sent to the Brand
Corporation's
New York facilities, where a week's worth of operations gave him bionic
arms and a bionic snake's body where his legs once were - Voelker
termed it "Roxxon's idea of an improvement." Quincy heard that his
brother had received super-strength and then been killed, so he took
his brother's old name of Bushmaster. Roxxon told Bushmaster that if he
served them for one year they'd give him prosthetic legs at that time,
but the Brand Corporation was closed down and Roxxon president Hugh
Jones placed in an asylum before the year ended; Quincy was stuck as
Bushmaster permanently.

(Captain America I#310) - At a
posh midtown Manhattan
hotel, Sidewinder (Seth Voelker) had invited several serpent-themed
mercenaries to attend the organizational meeting for the Serpent
Society. Those present were Sidewinder, Black
Mamba, Death Adder,
Princess Python, Cottonmouth,
Diamondback, Constrictor, Bushmaster, Cobra (later King Cobra), Asp, Rattler,
and Anaconda.
Sidewinder's pitch was to mimic the heroes and to band together as a
united group. He'd spent the previous nine months laying the groundwork
for his new group, and promised a guaranteed pay scale, insurance,
medical plans, pensions, greater access to tools and data, and, thanks
to Sidewinder's teleportational abilities, no fear of long-term
imprisonment. All but one attendee agreed to join; Constrictor refused
and left.

(Captain America I#310) - To test
their ability to be
team players, Sidewinder split the group into three sections, and set
each group out in a van to retrieve objects that he thought would be of
use to the Society. While Anaconda, Cobra, and Rattler went to retrieve
mutagenics equipment from Brand, it is not known what the other groups
were not what they retrieved.

(Captain America I#311) -
Following the successful
completion of all three tasks, the group reconvened in their new
headquarters, the Serpent Citadel. Seeking to advertise the group,
Sidewinder broke them into teams of two and sent them to contact all
the major criminal and subversive organizations in America. Among the
potential contactees were the Maggia, Zodiac, Secret Empire, Kingpin,
AIM, and Hydra. Diamondback and Bushmaster made contact with AIM's
inner council, and after Bushmaster pointed out that the Society would
forfeit their fee if they failed to deliver, AIM agreed to hire the
Society to find and kill their renegade leader, MODOK.

(Captain America I#312) - Still
teamed, Diamondback
and Bushmaster investigated an abandoned AIM headquarters (it had been
demolished during a MODOK/Hulk fight) on the Maine coast. After
disabling some automated stun-beams with his claws, Bushmaster and
Diamondback concluded that the base was truly abandoned and Diamondback
set a time-bomb to destroy the whole mountain in case MODOK tried to
return.

(Captain America I#313) -
Investigating a sunken AIM
submarine on the Atlantic coast, Bushmaster and Diamondback found
MODOK, who was trying to recuperate. Diamondback cut off his food
supply but MODOK barely got to his chair and blasted through the hull.
Bushmaster grabbed on to the chair, but MODOK blasted him as they
surfaced, slicing off both of Bushmaster's prosthetic arms. Diamondback
dragged Bushmaster to shore, returned to their Serpent Saucer,
and notified Sidewinder. He ordered Diamondback to care for Bushmaster
while Sidewinder arranged to have him transported to the infirmary.

(Captain America I#315) - Still
lacking his arms,
Bushmaster was present when the 100,000 $ reward for killing MODOK was
distributed, receiving his share.

(Captain
America I#319 -
BTS) - Bushmaster's arms were restored. It is not known if the Society
retrieved and repaired the originals or if new arms were constructed.

(Captain
America I#319) - All the Serpents were looking for the missing Death
Adder and were present when Sidewinder teleported in with Death Adder's
body, having found it in the local morgue. Sidewinder ordered everyone
to drop all missions and concentrate on finding the killer. Cobra and
Bushmaster invaded some AIM loyalists in search of information.

(Captain
America I#341/2) - Sidewinder introduced four new Serpents to the
charter members, and appointed them as probationary members of the
team. The foursome quickly betrayed the team to Viper.

(Captain
America I#342) - Bushmaster, Black Mamba, and Asp refused to join
Viper, so she injected them with a poison which would leave them dead
in an hour. The Captain and Diamondback came to their rescue and
Diamondback gave the Cobra's universal anti-toxin to the trio and left
them there to recover.

(Uncanny
X-Men Annual#13) - Cobra accepted a commission from Ghaur (Deviant
leader) and Llyra (Atlantean) to retrieve items of arcane mystic power;
he split the Society into squads. Cottonmouth, Rattler, Bushmaster, and
Black Racer went to
the Icelandic coast,
seeking a mystic rock. They encountered several X-Men there and battled
them as a team. Diamondback, trapped in Dazzler's body, convinced
Bushmaster that she was truly Diamondback; she reminded him how she'd
saved her life and Bushmaster voluntarily returned to his Serpent
Saucer after saying that he'd owed Diamondback a debt which was now
repaid, and that she was a traitor. The X-Men retrieved the item and
the serpents returned home.

(Captain
America I#365/2) - Bushmaster was present at a Serpent Society meeting
when Cobra announced that a mystery man (Loki) had teleported into the
Society's Bronx headquarters. Cobra asked the group to keep an ear out
for information about the stranger. Afterwards, Cobra told Bushmaster
he'd be gone for a few days and placed him in charge in his absence.

(Captain
America I#367/2) - Cobra returned and Bushmaster told him they'd had to
free Coachwhip
and Asp after some difficulties, but all was otherwise well; Cobra
brusquely dismissed him. He was present at a noon meeting of the
Society the next day wherein Cobra announced that he felt that he'd
been underperforming as their leader and now intended to correct that
and lead them to new heights as King Cobra.

(Captain
America I#380) - When Diamondback was tried by the Society for treason,
Bushmaster was one of the minority who voted for her innocence.

(Captain
America I#381) - After Sidewinder rescued Diamondback, King Cobra
ordered Diamondback and Sidewinder's execution, with a doubled annual
bonus to anyone who brought in their corpses. He and Bushmaster
confronted Black Mamba and Asp, bringing phone records that showed
Mamba had called Sidewinder. The pair attempted to flee, but Cobra
gassed them unconscious. Soon thereafter, Paladin and Diamondback
invaded the Society's headquarters to rescue the pair; Paladin got the
drop on Bushmaster and ordered him to take them to Asp and Black Mamba.
When King Cobra ambushed Paladin, Bushmaster attacked Diamondback
despite their friendship, believing that "a freak like himself"
couldn't make a living elsewhere, and he needed to be loyal to King
Cobra. Diamondback tried to hit him with a tear gas diamond, but
instead accidentally threw and acid bomb in his mouth, disabling him.

(Captain
America I#382) - Bushmaster recovered and engaged Captain America when
the hero invaded the Society's headquarters; Cap defeated him but,
being in a hurry, left him unconscious but untied. The Society's
headquarters was closed down, and King Cobra, Coachwhip, Black Racer, Fer-de-Lance,
Cottonmouth, and Rattler were hauled away by Guardsmen; Diamondback,
Black Mamba, and Asp were allowed to remain free. Bushmaster's fate was
not seen.

(Captain
America I#385/2) - Bushmaster was indeed captured with the others: TV
reports noted that King Cobra and six Society members were captured,
while Puff Adder,
Anaconda, Rock Python,
Diamondback, Asp, and Black Mamba remained at large.

(Captain
America Annual#10/2) - Bushmaster bitterly went over his life history
in the Vault until his lawyer, Mr. Senescu, informed him that he was
being released for insufficient evidence of wrongdoing.

(Captain
America I#435) - King Cobra auditioned Jack Flag as his eventual
replacement as King Cobra, forcing him to run a gauntlet of the Society
serpents, including Bushmaster. The fracas was interrupted when Captain
America (secretly summoned by Flag) showed up and faked his own defeat
at the hands of Jack Flag/King Cobra and Bushmaster, Fer-de-Lance,
Cottonmouth, Rock Python, and Rattler; they took him to the real King
Cobra. When Coachwhip was revealed to be a disguised Free Spirit and
Jack Flag revealed himself to be an enemy of the Society, Bushmaster
was one of those left to attack the pair after King Cobra and Mr.
Hyde went after Captain America.

(Captain
America I#437) - Bushmaster and the Society had Jack Flag and Free
Spirit cornered when Force Works (an Avengers' offshoot) came to the
pair's aid; within four minutes the Serpent Society was defeated. They
were taken into custody by the team.

(Captain
America IV#30) - Bushmaster, Puff Adder, and Asp burst in on Captain
America's apartment. Asp blasted both him and Diamondback (really an
LMD) knocking out Captain America but not Diamondback, and noted to the
others that her blast should have knocked out Rachel as well.
Bushmaster was present in the Society's underground New York-area
headquarters when Captain America and Diamondback awoke, chained to a
pillar.

(Captain
America IV#31) - Bushmaster was there while King Cobra taunted
Diamondback, promising to punish her for her betrayal. Sixteen hours
later, King Cobra summoned the rest of the Society when the Captain
escaped; Bushmaster was one of many to respond and was knocked out by
the Captain. S.H.I.E.L.D. subsequently took him and the rest of the
Society into custody.

(Thunderbolts II#104) - At the Thunderbolts'
training ground in Desert Flats, New Mexico, Bushmaster sat beside
Rattler and Snake
Marston
and observed King Cobra training. He then watched with other villains
while Baron Helmut Zemo gathered a large squad of villains and
announced that they would be his new Thunderbolts, with a chance at
earning either/both redemption or their freedom.

(Thunderbolts
II#107) - As part of Epsilon Squad of the "Thunderbolts Army,"
Bushmaster fought in Tokyo to control civilians who were unexpectedly
gaining uncontrollable powers.

(Punisher
War Journal II#13) - Bushmaster was among those captured by Alyosha
Kravinoff and held in his super-human "zoo" in the cargo ship "Bella
Anna."

(Punisher War Journal II#14) - Confined with Tiger
Shark, the Rhino, Mandrill,
Vulture, Mongoose, Man-Bull,
Gargoyle,
Frog-Man,
Kangaroo,
Grizzly, and others, Bushmaster had an explosive collar placed around
his neck. He witnessed Kraven demonstrate the collar by exploding the
winged horse Aragorn. After telepathic impulses from Kraven reduced
Bushmaster and the others to acting on animalistic impulse, they were
released within the ship to fight.

(Punisher
War Journal II#15) - With the mental abilities of only an enraged
animal,
Bushmaster attacked Kraven but a chop to the neck left Bushmaster
unconscious and defeated. Kraven was later defeated by the Punisher and
others.

(Wolverine
III#73/1) - On a Monday, several Serpent Society members (Anaconda,
Black Mamba, Bushmaster, Cottonmouth), fought members of the New
Avengers (Captain America/Barnes, Luke Cage, Ronin/Barton,
Spider-Woman/Drew, Wolverine) in a semi-tropical locale (palm trees
were nearby). Bushmaster took on both Cage and Ronin.

(X-Men: To Serve and Protect#2/1) - Mr. Negative
hired the Serpent Society to eliminate two new vigilantes (Anole and
Rockslide, both disguised), who were soon confronted King Cobra,
Bushmaster, Rattler, Anaconda and Death Adder.

(X-Men: To Serve and Protect#3/1) - Anole and
Rockslide's unusual fighting styles kept the Serpent Society members at
bay until Mr. Negative intervened and "turned" Rockslide to his will.

(X-Men: To Serve and Protect#4/1) - Anole dodged
the possessed Rockslide's hits, jumping amongst the Serpent Society
members so that they would be hit instead of him. Mr. Negative ended
his possession of Rockslide and a smoke grenade covered the escape of
Mr. Negative and the Serpent Society group.

(Villains for Hire#1 - BTS) - Bushmaster guarded the pickup site for the Villains for Hire's heist of a transporter filled with evidence against the Maggia. The transporter never arrived because his crew was robbed by Misty Knight's crew, which included Crossfire, Bombshell, Tiger Shark and Nightshade.

(Villains for Hire#2) - Purple Man hired Bushmaster for another job, but Lady Stilt-Man interfered on behalf of Misty Knight.

(Villains for Hire#3) - Purple Man sent Bushmaster to distract Misty Knight by triggering alarms at her Control HQ. He got caught in an energy net, but Shocker freed him. Bushmaster stayed behind while Shocker, Avalanche, Tiger Shark, Bombshell, Death Stalker, Monster and Scourge (still Misty's undercover ally Paladin) broke into Misty's Control HQ and faced off with Misty, Man-Ape, Crossfire, Lady Stilt-Man and Speed Demon.

(Villains for Hire#4 (fb) ) - After a big fight Misty, Paladin and Puppet Master caught Shocker, Monster, Tiger Shark, Bushmaster, Headhunter, Crossfire, Speed Demon and Purple Man in foam and called the NYPD, who picked them up for prison.

Bushmaster's
fellow Serpent Society member Cottonmouth has occasionally gone by
Bushmaster's real name of Quincy McIver. While this was undoubtedly
initially a mistake on Mark Gruenwald's part, it has since been
perpetuated elsewhere. The current Marvel take is that Cottonmouth has
been passing himself off as Quincy for unknown reasons of his own.